Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

Chapter 11: The Gathering

November 15, 2024 | 9:45 PM | Alexei's Private StudyThe study door clicked shut behind Viktor.Alexei waited until the footsteps faded. Then he moved to the oak cabinet, each step measured despite the cancer eating at his bones. The vodka bottle gleamed like liquid silver in the lamplight."You're not supposed to drink." Marcus watched from his chair. "Doctor's orders.""Doctors." Alexei poured three glasses. "They know how to delay death. Not how to live."He passed the glasses around. The vodka burned clean and cold—proper Russian, not the watered trash they served tourists."So." Alexei settled into his leather chair. "What did you think of Damian's new pet?"Marcus's hand found his cufflinks. A nervous tell he'd never quite conquered."Pretty enough. But a Fringe doctor? Really?" He took a larger swallow than necessary. "Six months back and he's already making questionable decisions.""Six months."

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-16

Chapter 12: The Public Claim

The first thing Ava smelled when she woke was decay.The perfume of Marcus’s white roses had curdled overnight. The sweet scent turned cloying, a suffocating blanket in the sterile air of the penthouse. It was the smell of a promise rotting.A grim smile touched her lips. The wilting petals were a perfect reflection of how she felt. Beautiful on the surface. Dying inside.The suite's chime sounded, soft and discreet. An attendant wheeled in a breakfast cart, the silver dome gleaming under the recessed lights. But Ava’s eyes fixed on what sat beside it.A small, iconic Tiffany-blue box.Her fingers felt numb as she lifted the lid. Inside, nestled on black satin, lay a diamond bracelet. It was a serpent, intricately detailed, with tiny emeralds for eyes. It was coiled as if to bite its own tail.A small, cream-colored card was tucked beneath. The handwriting was the same elegant slant

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-17

Chapter 13: Sanctum

The penthouse was a fortress veiled in elegance. Ava stepped into the living area that evening, her gaze catching on Marcus’s latest play: three boxes on the low marble table, each a calculated move.Black orchids, petals soft as whispered threats, spilled from the first. A crimson silk gown, fluid as spilled blood, lay in the second. The third held a first-edition Gray's Anatomy, its leather cover heavy with her past.Damian emerged from the terrace, whiskey glass in hand, his silhouette sharp against the neon-lit Vegas skyline.His grey eyes pinned her, heavy with intent. A reflex she couldn’t stifle sent her fingers brushing over the book’s spine.He crossed the room, his steps deliberate, his gaze unwavering. He plucked an orchid from its nest of tissue paper, his thumb grazing its velvety edge before his fist closed, crushing it. The ruined petals fell to the marble like ash.“He thinks he can claim your mind, milaya,” Damian

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-18

Chapter 14: The Doctor's Price

November 25, 2024 | 9:00 AM The Pantheon PenthouseThe weekend had been a masterclass in psychological warfare. Now, Monday morning carried its echo—sharp and insistent—like a phantom limb she couldn’t shake. The coverage hadn’t cooled. If anything, the heat had settled in, constant and suffocating.Ava sat on the edge of the pristine white sofa, phone in hand—the same device they’d returned to her, a monitored leash dressed up as courtesy. Her knuckles were pale around it.She scrolled. Gossip blogs. Celebrity sighting accounts. Social media feeds. Every thread was saturated with her image.One high-resolution shot from the Bellagio terrace had gone everywhere. Damian’s thumb resting against her lip as he fed her a strawberry—an intimate gesture caught in perfect focus. Tender on the surface, but to her, it was possession, staged for an audience she couldn’t control.The caption was the same on every repost, no ma

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-19

Chapter 15: The Familiar Ghost

Tuesday, November 26, 2024 | 2:00 PM Las Vegas, NevadaThe interior of the armored SUV was a silent, mobile prison. The scent of sterile, expensive leather filled the air, a clean smell that did nothing to cover the tension.Ava sat in the back, watching the city pass behind the thick, tinted glass. The vibrant chaos of Vegas—the palms, the glittering signs just beginning to wake for the evening, the faces of tourists full of manufactured hope—was distorted into a muted, unreachable blur. It was a life she could see, but no longer touch.Maxim drove. He hadn't spoken a single word since they left the Olympus, an impassive mountain of a man whose presence filled the vehicle.His silence wasn't analytical like Mikhail's; it was absolute. The silence of a wall. He held the steering wheel with a steady, relaxed grip, yet his eyes constantly scanned the mirrors with a practiced efficiency that spoke of years spent anticipating threats.

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-20

Chapter 16: The Devil You Know

Tuesday, November 26, 2024 | Evening The Pantheon Penthouse, The Olympus CasinoThe silence in the penthouse was a living thing, cold and sharp.Damian stood before her, a silhouette of lethal stillness. The tablet in his hand was angled just so, the screen glowing with the frozen image of her betrayal. Her hand passing the note. Her face a mask of false calm.His voice, when it came, was stripped of all warmth.“A story, Doctor. Tell me one.”Ava forced her lungs to draw air. The taste was sterile, filtered, smelling faintly of leather and his expensive, cold cologne. Her heart knocked against her ribs, a frantic, trapped thing.She met his gaze. This was a performance for her life.“His name is Jack Reilly,” she said. Her voice was steady. She was a doctor delivering a grim diagnosis, detached and professional. “We were colleagues. Years ago. A university research project.”He took a single, slow step closer, invading her space, his presence a physical pressure. His skepticism was a

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-21

Chapter 17: A Whisper in the Chaos

Wednesday, November 27, 2024 | Evening The Grand Ballroom, The Bellagio Hotel & CasinoThe gown was the color of fresh blood.It pooled around Ava’s feet, the crimson silk cool against her skin. She stood before the full-length mirror in the penthouse suite, a silent statue while the stylists made their final, fussy adjustments.A woman with severe bangs and a colder expression stepped forward. In her hands, nestled on black velvet, was the diamond collar.Ava’s breath hitched as it was fastened around her neck. The stones were a circle of ice against her throat. A beautiful, glittering leash.Damian appeared in the doorway of the dressing suite. He wore a bespoke black tuxedo that fit his frame with lethal perfection. It didn't make him look like a gentleman. It made him look like a king from some dark, violent mythology.His eyes swept over her, a slow, deliberate inventory. There was no compliment in his gaze, no softness. There was only the stark, brutal finality of ownership.He w

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-22

Chapter 18: The Red Queen's Gambit

Chapter 18: The Red Queen's GambitWednesday, November 27, 2024 | Evening The Top-Floor Ladies' Room, The Bellagio Hotel & CasinoThe clicking stopped directly outside her stall.Ava held her breath, pressing herself back against the cold tile.“Hiding in the help’s quarters?”The voice was silk-wrapped venom. Katarina Rostova pushed the stall door open, invading the tiny space.Her fiery hair seemed to burn in the dim light, her eyes—the color of hard, expensive gemstones—taking in the scene with theatrical contempt.Her gaze swept over Ava, lingering on the crimson dress before fixing on the diamond collar.“A pretty collar,” she purred, her voice a low mockery. “Does he make you fetch, little pet?”Ava’s shock from Jack’s revelation hardened into a cold, protective shell. “I’m not his pet,” she said, her voice quiet but steady. “And I’m certainly not yours.”The small space was suffocating, thick with the scent of Katarina’s aggressive floral perfume.Katarina laughed, a beautiful,

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-25

Chapter 19: Ghosts of the Crucible

Wednesday, November 27, 2024 | Late Evening The Industrial Outskirts, Las VegasThe armored SUV moved through the night like a shark through dark water.Inside, the silence was thick, broken only by the whisper of the tires on asphalt.“The Red Queen is bleeding.”Damian’s voice cut through the stillness, cool and amused. He hadn’t looked at her, his gaze fixed on the passing city lights. “She will want retribution. Was it worth it, Doctor?”Ava didn’t answer. She stared out the tinted window, the chaos of the gala, the sting of Katarina’s slap, all of it fading into an irrelevant haze. Her mind was a locked room with only one sound echoing inside.He knew your father.Damian turned his head slowly, his grey eyes narrowing as he studied her profile. Her distraction wasn’t about Katarina. He’d seen the look on her face when she came out of that restroom. This was something else.“What did the waiter say to you?” he asked, his tone shifting from amusement to quiet command.“He apologize

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-26

Chapter 20: The Unmasking

Wednesday, November 27, 2024 | Late Evening The Crucible“Evelyn.”The name landed in the vast, cold space. It wasn’t a question. It was a verdict.The air rushed from Ava’s lungs. The world tilted, the brutal floodlights overhead seeming to sway. She stumbled back a step, her hand flying to her mouth as if to hold in a scream.“How…” The word was a choked, breathless sound, stolen by shock.A slow, cruel smile touched Damian’s lips. It didn’t reach his eyes. His eyes were cold, triumphant.“Did you really think I didn’t know?”His voice was laced with a dark, terrible amusement. “The moment I saw you in that pathetic clinic, under that flickering light… I knew exactly who you were.”The shock receded, and in its place, a white-hot, volcanic rage erupted. It burned through the fog of her grief, a pure, clarifying fire. The past two weeks—the fear, the captivity, the forced intimacy—all of it had been a game. A performance he was watching from the director’s chair.“You knew?” she seeth

Dernière mise à jour : 2025-08-26

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